Private Property?

It all started when Doc and I found a coat on the fence this morning. We were checking the pockets for ID - all we found were gum wrappers and scrunched up kleenex -that should have been enough to identify it as the woman's. Of course, she misinterpreted our actions and snatched it away while glaring at us suspiciously.

The suspicion stems from an incident a few weeks ago. She and Molly mare had returned from a trail ride and left their sweaty saddle pad to dry on the grass. I studied it for quite some time and then calculated that by stretching my neck to it's maximum while standing on my toes, I could get a tooth-hold and drag it into the paddock. It has pockets on the sides and they had an intriguing oaty smell - buried under the sweaty horse smell, but discernible to my surperior olfactory senses. There were human snacks in bar form in there and by inserting my finely chiseled muzzle between the buckles, I was able to unwrap and sample them. Doc stood on one end of the pad and I on the other and he cleaned up all the bits that were spread around.

Out came the woman and as she got closer she began to run and shriek at us. We swallowed as fast as we could and when she got close, Doc grabbed the pad and ran away! Heh, heh. He and the woman circled the barn a few times but when it blew over his eyes he panicked and dropped it. A huge lecture on private property ensued (once she had caught her breath). My argument is that if you stumble across something it immediately becomes yours. Of course you-know-who doesn't agree. And on it goes...